


my two best friends

by SinginInTheRaine



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, POV Outsider, POV Steve Rogers, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Sam and Nat are dorks, Sneaking Around, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-08-14 04:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20186290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinginInTheRaine/pseuds/SinginInTheRaine
Summary: It didn't take a supersoldier to figure out Sam and Natasha were sleeping together. It might, however, take a supersoldier to help Sam and Natasha figure out the truth.





	my two best friends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lionessvalenti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/gifts).

> Written for the super fun prompt: _[Sam and Natasha] trying (and failing) to hide their relationship from Steve_.

“I don’t know, Nat.” Steve shook his head. “For a super spy, you are probably the worst at hiding a relationship than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Natasha stared at him, unblinking. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said.

“Sure you don’t,” he told her. “Because, according to you, I’m an old fossil, right, and can’t possible spot two people in a relationship?”

Natasha still didn’t blink, or flinch. “Everyone knows Sam and I are sleeping together,” she said, as though she and Sam had announced it to the world, even though he had seen her sneak out of his room at three in the morning the night before and the last time they were all at a Tony party, the two of them had spent so much time on opposite sides of the room avoiding each other’s eyes, a casual observer would have thought they hated each other.

But he just smirked at her admission. “Not hiding that you’re sleeping together,” he told her. “Hiding that you love him.”

This time, real surprise flickered across Natasha’s face, and he smirked more as he watched her struggle to contain it.

“I don’t,” she finally said, and she said it in such a way that his smirk faded as he stared at her.

“Oh my god,” he said. “You don’t even realize you love him.”

And as Natasha stared at him, wide-eyed, he realized with an epiphany of sorts that he was right.

Well, that was certainly a twist he hadn’t seen coming.

•••

_Two months earlier_

It started with little things. Like the coffee Steve normally preferred being replaced in the kitchen cabinets with the brand Natasha liked. Or the extra blankets that had always been stuffed in a hall closet since Steve and Sam had moved in together suddenly being laid over the back of the couch at all times when Natasha — who didn’t even live with them — was the only one who ever used them because for some reason she liked to practically be in a cocoon when they watched movies. Or the fact that Sam, who usually headed to bed early because he liked to get up before the sun rose to get in some laps, was staying up later and later and his announcements that he was headed to bed were almost always either immediately followed by or proceeded Natasha’s announcement that she needed to leave soon.

Steve sometimes wondered if they forgot he had super hearing and that he could hear the creak of the window when Natasha snuck into Sam’s room at night or that he could definitely make out two voices coming from Sam’s room when he passed by on his way down the hallway. But then he thought maybe it was their version of trying to not make him uncomfortable, so he pretended not to notice that Natasha’s extra jacket hung in the hall closet or that she had more shoes lying about the place than he did.

It wasn’t like having Natasha with them was any different than normal. Ever since she reappeared from wherever she had gone off to when SHIELD fell, she had spent almost all her time with them. Half the time Steve woke up it was to find her already in the kitchen scarfing down Cheerios and drinking their coffee. They all worked out together, hung out together and spent hours together trying to track down Bucky.

And it wasn’t like he hadn’t noticed that Sam and Natasha liked each other. That was obvious from the second they met, so it had always been almost inevitable that they would hook up at some point. He had just sort of thought that when that time came they would have told him about it, instead of creeping around like he was going to be a disappointed dad if he knew.

This morning, though, the kitchen was decidedly empty, and even the smell of Natasha’s perfume that usually lingered in the air wasn’t detectable. Steve was halfway through his morning coffee and plate of eggs when Sam appeared in the doorway, still in his boxers and yawning and stretching.

Steve glanced at the clock on the stove. “Late night?” he commented.

“Just tired,” Sam said. “Can I grab some?” He gestured to the coffee pot on the counter.

“I made plenty. I thought Natasha would be here.”

“Haven’t seen her,” Sam told him. He headed over to the cabinets to pull out a coffee mug.

“Well, that would have been kind of weird if you had,” Steve said. “Unless she was hiding under your bed or something.”

Sam laughed as he poured himself a cup. “Come on, man,” he said, heading back to Steve and pulling out a chair beside him. “That’s a nightmare-inducing thought. No one wants an assassin under the bed.”

Steve just murmured something that could be taken as assent under his breath.

•••

Days passed and Natasha didn’t show up. Steve was getting worried, and by the pinched expression Sam was wearing for most of the time lately, Steve had a feeling he was too.

“Did Natasha tell you she wasn’t going to be around?” he asked Sam casually one night, as they sat on the couch flipping through channels.

“I think I heard her say she had something she needed to do,” Sam said, just as casually. “But she didn’t say what.”

“Okay,” Steve said.

He must have said it oddly because Sam glanced sharply at him.

“What?” Steve asked.

“Just the way you said that,” Sam said. “Like you didn’t believe me.”

“No.” Steve quickly shook his head. “I’m just worried that’s all. I would have thought she would have said something if she was going to purposely be gone.” Then he added. “I’m just trying to think back to see if there was something I did that could have upset her.”

“I’m pretty sure she would have told you to your face if you had,” Sam grinned.

“Yeah,” Steve said, and he settled back on the couch. He should have known Natasha hadn’t stopped coming because something happened between her and Sam. Except knowing that something hadn’t just made the worry increase tenfold.

•••

At four in the morning, they got their answer. Steve woke up to the sound of a soft knock on the front door, and when he pulled it open a few minutes later, Natasha crumpled into his arms.

“Sam!” Steve shouted.

Steve had her on the couch by the time Sam had barreled through the door of his room and made it to the living room. He dropped down on his knees in front of Natasha, who was leaning back against the couch, her eyes closed.

Steve turned on the light so they could see better. Natasha was dressed all in black — a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve shirt — but her outfit was ripped in several places and looked wet in others. Steve had a feeling it was blood. 

She had blood on her face, too, below her lip, and what looked like the beginnings of a black eye.

“What happened?” Sam was touching Natasha’s cheek, and her eyes fluttered.

“No idea,” Steve said. “I’ll get the first aid kit.”  
He made his way to the bathroom to dig the medical supplies out from under the sink. He returned to the living room with bandages, towels, pain medication and some antiseptic. Sam was now sitting beside Natasha, one hand cupping her cheek and the other holding hers. Her eyes were half opened as she looked at him, and Steve could tell she was whispering something to him.

Sam looked over when he saw Steve. “She says it’s worse than it looks.”

“Of course she says that,” Steve said. “Nat, you want to tell us what happened?”

Natasha’s eyes flickered to him, but she kept her head turned toward Sam. “I messed up,” she said, her voice unnaturally quiet. “They caught me before I caught them.”

“Caught who?” 

“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’m okay now.”

Steve wanted to ask more, but Sam was shaking his head at him and gesturing toward the supplies. Steve handed them over. Together, they managed to get her out of her clothes so she was clad only in her bra and underwear, allowing them better access to clean and bandages all her wounds. She was right that it was more bruises than blood, and there didn’t seem to be any major injuries. But Steve was still worried.

“Maybe you should stay here a few days so we can make sure you’re okay,” Steve said to her.

“You can have my bed,” Sam said instantly, “I’ll take the couch.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Natasha said weakly, but she looked like she was about to pass out from exhaustion so it was hard to take her seriously, which she must have known because she didn’t protest when Sam scooped her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

Steve followed behind, watching the way he held her, and then the way he put her down in the bed, carefully tucking her in and gently pushing some stray strands of hair behind her ear. He watched, too, the way Natasha watched Sam the whole time. He could tell how tired she was, and maybe even a little scared, but the trust in her eyes as she let Sam position pillows behind her and hold a glass of water to her lips was something so rare, Steve himself had only seen it a few times, most of those being the days they were on the run together.

Steve smiled to himself and slipped out of the room, leaving Sam to take care of Natasha, knowing she would be fine.

•••

Natasha stayed with them full time for a week, giving Steve a lot of opportunity to watch her and Sam together. They still pretended they weren’t anything more than friends, but in the moments when they didn’t know he was watching, he saw the tender way Sam took care of her, making sure she was comfortable and kissing her softly on the forehead and holding her hand under the blankets when they thought Steve couldn’t see, and he saw the way Natasha looked at Sam and the way she let Sam take care of her, and Steve felt his heart burst with happiness for his two friends. He just wished they would maybe decide to let him in one of these days.

But Natasha finally went back home and life returned to normal, and still they pretended that nothing had changed.

Until the morning he walked into the kitchen to start making coffee, a little earlier than normal, to find Natasha already at the coffee pot — and dressed only in one of Sam’s shirts.

He looked pointedly at her, but since it was Natasha, she just gazed steadily back at him. “I need to do laundry,” she said. “Your wash machine is nicer than mine.”

“Really?” Steve arched his brows and put on his bed “I don’t believe a word you just said” look.

“Really,” Natasha said. She pulled two cups out of the cabinet and poured the coffee, offering one to him. “Coffee?” she said cheerfully.

Steve shook his head. ““I don’t know, Nat. For a super spy, you are probably the worst at hiding a relationship than anyone I’ve ever met.”

•••

Steve had never seen Natasha truly speechless before, but she was still standing before him, her eyes wide, staring at him like she couldn’t believe Steve had really just told her that she loved Sam. And then he saw her hand twitch, and he could tell her breathing was starting to speed up just so, and he had a feeling what was coming.

He moved closer to her and carefully took the coffee cups from her hand to set them down before she dropped them, and then he maneuvered her into a chair at the kitchen table.

“It’s okay to love him,” he told her softly, but Natasha, finally unfrozen, shook her head.

“No,” she said. “I don’t … I can’t …”

“Natasha.” Steve set his hands over hers. “You’re okay,” he told her. “This is a good thing. Sam feels the same way.”

“No,” she said.

“Yes,” he told her.

“No,” Natasha said again. She shook her head one more time. “Sam can’t …”

“Sam can’t what?”

Steve and Natasha both looked up at the new person to enter the room. Steve felt Natasha tense under his hands. He glanced at her, to see her staring now at Sam like a deer in headlights, and decided this was up to him.

“Love her,” Steve told him. “She thinks you can’t love her.”

For a moment, surprise crossed Sam’s face as he met Steve’s eyes, coupled with a slight flicker of regret, probably for not telling him, but Steve gestured with his head toward Natasha, who still looked like she was ready to bolt.

A smile crossed Sam’s face. “Well, she would be wrong,” he said. “I love her very much.”

Steve felt the tension ease out of Natasha’s hands, which he was still holding.

“You do?” she whispered.

Steve let go of her and stood up.

“Yeah,” he said. “So I’m going to go for a run. I’ll be back in, uh …” He glanced at the clock. “In a few hours. Please just don’t have sex on my bed or the couch or the kitchen table … or anywhere we all congregate.”

“I don’t know that we can promise that.” Natasha had apparently found her voice again.

Steve glared at her. She laughed. Sam smirked. Steve headed to the door.

“Have fun, kids!” he said as he headed out, and as the door closed behind him, he heard Sam tell Natasha, “I do love you, you know,” and Steve smiled as he began to run.


End file.
